Did anyone get stuck in a gargantuan traffic jam in Vile Parle/ Andheri/ Jogeshwari/ Malad earlier this week? Yes, yes, I know that’s roz ka jhamela in aamchi Mumbai. But this was like the baap of all traffic snarls. Your vella bloggy-reporter takes you straight to the scene of the crime…errr, traffic jam.

In that dirty, dingy gulli called Andheri subway, an autowalla seemed to have been trying some stunts. Okay, not auto but what do you call those auto-looking things that carry goods instead of passengers? Going by the way the autowallas drive, I don’t think they know the difference but anyway…

This vehicle was stuck in the most extraordinary position of all - nose up in the air and forehead (!) caught in the roof of the subway. A couple of workers were perched up there hammering away in a bid to get it unstuck. Wheels up in the air, my first thought was,

Was that an auto-wheelie gone wrong??

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To many it’s not a big deal. Summer is just another season which will make you sweat a lot and then move on to another season. For me weather really has a direct effect on my lifestyle. So what is the key to a happy summer? A wee bit of change in lifestyle can really ease the heat this summer.
So here are things which can keep you cool this summer
• Cotton is the mantra of this season. Yes its time to take out those cotton kurtas which are the bottom of your trunk. Seriously it really makes a lot of difference even you have a 24/7 air conditioning.
• Go fresh! Eat lots of fresh fruits (melons especially, it is also good to loose those extra kilos) Stuff yourself with fruits. Fruits will keep you cool and fresh. Unlike heavy, spicy food which will trend to make you feel drowsy and heavy.
• Liquids please! Many don’t feel like eating much due to the heat ( I am one of them) and hence skip meals. But a hectic day at work can drain you off all the energy. So substitute your meals (if you’re not in the mood for it) with fresh juices, lime soda and get a bit adventurous with some mocktails.
• Avoid alcohol! It can get you all the more dehydrated (Alcohol dehydrates the body in any weather) and also trigger migraines (if you are prone to migraines)
• Water; No am not talking about Deepa Mehta’s movie here. Drink lots of water. You can lot health problems due to the heat by just increasing your water intake itself.
• Carry an umbrella. Yes umbrellas not only protect you from rains but also from sun.
• Always carry a high SPF sunscreen lotion. Lap it generously whenever you get out.

This November you are going to be bombarded with 3 mega movies and frankly speaking you will be in in ” to see to not to see” fix. Here is seek peak at the 3 maga movies releasing in November.

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
Starring Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kunal Kapoor, Jaya Bachchan and Anupam Kher, the film is about a woman who willingly chooses prostitution as a profession to support her family.

Rani plays the central character of Badki who lives with her parents (Anupam Kher and Jaya Bachchan) and younger sister Chutki (Konkona Sen Sharma) in Varanasi. On the surface, life is fun. The sisters enjoy playing pranks, sneaking off to see a forbidden mujra, and soaking up life on the banks of the Ganges.

But a financial crisis is brewing and Badki is fully aware of it. It gets worse when Badki’s father falls ill. The family is in dire straits and Badki decides to go to Mumbai to seek a living to support her mother and sister.

Alone in Mumbai, she battles with dark forces, keeping her focus on her purpose to support her family and continue Chutki’s education. She deliberately morphs into someone else, leading a secret life full of murky compromises.

As luck would have it, Chutki too comes to Mumbai to work. After her arrival, Badki’s life turns into a minefield because she has to hide her secrets from her younger sister.

Chutki finds success at work and also meets Vivaan (Kunal Kapoor). They eventually fall in love.

While supporting her family and battling with blackmail, Badki gets attracted to Rohan (Abhishek Bachchan) but she lets him go, as she believes he is not meant for her.

After a sequence of events, Badki’s dual life is revealed, and the two sisters find themselves face to face in a confrontation neither had expected. When love beckons Badki again, the whole family is thrown in a tumultuous storm.

Everything threatens to explode in their faces, destroying all of them.
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Its that time of the year when the heat is oppressive but the hope of the monsoons and the cooling of temperates is awaited with bated breath. Its also the time of the year when the trees will flower, as per this article by DNA

By the end of this month, Mumbai should be in full monsoon mode. The dust of summer will be washed away from the trees and the areas around the city will soon be covered in that particular shade of green, whose purity is sometimes painful to the eyes. [link]

Continue reading about the flowers of mumbai

I realized that Mumbai MB did not have any post about this summer or the summer special. Hence this picture. This is a deserted park which is unusual at this time of the year as all the kids are enjoying their summer vacation from school. Usually the parks are over crowded and one find kids playing some games at ever nook and corner of the streets, veranda, parking lot, foot path in short were ever possible they can find an itsy bitsy space. But looks like the harsh weather is keep all of them indoors this summer vacation.

There’s more to summer than just the heat and long, sleepy afternoons.

Cotton on trees.
Bits of cotton fly around and are caught by sparrows to build comfortable nests

Plastic bath-tubs for kids are sold on footpaths.

The dog in your building has a haircut:

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3:28 a.m :

My air conditioner lets out a slow cold gentle buzz as my ceiling fans clatters as it rotates at high speeds. These are the sounds of Mumbai in the summer; these are the sounds of a very early morning in Mumbai in the summer.

“Wait” - can you hear.
“My ears must be deceiving me that sounds just like rain”
I open my door and the smell or wet earth whisks me away into a sort of delirium.

It’s Raining.

It Rained in Mumbai. Sadly I’m telling you this before most people in Mumbai will ever know.

Step 1 :

Find yourself a plastic vat/tub/cistern/barrel. Fill with cold water and jump in.

Step 2 :

Let Fourier’s Law of heat transfer take effect - “When there exists a temperature gradient within a body, heat energy will flow from the region of high temperature to the region of low temperature ” - in plan speak “Chill”.

Step 3 :

As the your body temperature falls and the heat is but something that effects other people enjoy yourself. Remember the water is your friend.

Step 4 :

Congratulations you’ve won the battle but the war continues.

Mangoes are the national fruit obsession of India. You have to be there to experience it. From the start of the summer around April to about late June, all of India is flooded with mangoes. People cant get enough of them. Rich or poor, you gotta pig out on mangoes.

And if you havent eaten an Indian Alphonso mango, you haven’t lived life. No other country comes even close when it comes to a tastier mango. The Mexican variety is not even a close second.

Today’s NYTimes Travel Section has a very nice article on Mango Madness in India

The most important lesson: How to eat a mango, presented in a three-part mime. She first holds out a cupped hand, in which sits the imaginary glistening orange oval of a whole peeled mango; she then deftly flicks her hand at the wrist to propel the phantom mango against her mouth, which gets busy sucking the flesh down to the seed; finally, outrageously, she deploys the full length of her tongue to lick her arm, elbow to wrist, to recapture an inevitable trickle of invisible mango juice. [...link...]

The Brahminy kite spirals downwards, descending faster into a vertical dive, till warmer pockets of air pull him up again, steadying his wings as he perches himself on a tree in an attempt to escape the torrid sun. Working men relaxed in the shady corners as the mid-afternoon sun brazed my skin brown. For many of us who do not have
to do hard work outside, and who have summer leisure time on ourhands, escaping the heat is not the goal. Luxuriating in it is. I am sure you have heard the Noel Coward refrain , “Mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun.” I am not an Englishman but I might as well be a mad dog for I love the harsh sunlight. As each days passes we sink further into the harsh steamy Indian Summer. Mumbai resembles is now more a steamy preassure cooker than a city.

The only solution - some fast cooling.

CURRENT CONDITIONS
88°F (31°C) - Partly Sunny - 61% humidity.